Wednesday, January 31, 2007

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

Some highlights from the Audit Commission's new report on why council tax payers should pay for more 'migrant workers' to learn English.

"Overall, international migration is now the main driver of population change in the UK."

"The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004 led to a greater than anticipated increase in the number of migrant workers. This came on top of a steady rise in the number and the diversity of foreign nationals coming to the UK to work, including many foreign students. While future numbers are inherently hard to predict, economic and demographic trends make it likely that a high level of migration for work and for study will continue for the foreseeable future."

"In all national and local surveys, employers are very positive about their economic contribution (Refs. 6, 7, 8 and 9). Recent macroeconomic studies consider that migrant workers are net contributors to the economy (Refs. 10 and 11) and have helped to keep wage inflation down in areas of skill shortage."

Doing a skilled job ? Pay more tax so that the council can train people to undercut you !

"The arrival of migrant workers has been welcomed by the government, the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress."

How about these two statements ?

"There is little evidence that the increased numbers of migrant workers have caused significant or systematic problems in respect of community safety or cohesion."

"Police forces are usually the first local services to notice and respond to change."

I wonder why that could be ?

"Local media can influence the tone of the debate by selecting particular stories and letters and writing editorials. Building good relationships with local editors, involving relevant media in discussions and identifying and promoting positive stories to local media can help ensure a more balanced tone."

It's handy that local government is a major advertiser in local papers then, isn't it ?

This line pretty much sums it up :

The unexpected speed and scale of change since 2004 means that migrant workers will continue to be an issue in an increasing number of areas, including those with little recent history of ethnic diversity or rapid population change.

4 comments:

Looks like your conspiracy theory of NuLabour aiming at turning the United Kingdom of Great Britain into a one-party state is not a mad, paranoid fantasy after all.

No guessing which party all these new migrants will vote for; this level of gerrymandering is unprecedented in recent modern history. If this were a debate on the Arab/Israeli Question in the Middle East, the Islingtonians would be up in arms over the plight of the socially and economically maginalised Palestinians. But as its only to affect "pikey-chav trash", hey what the hell...Btw I'm not an apologist for the policies of the State of Israel nor do I have any time for the vicious anti-semitism of the Islamo-LeftLiberal alliance, so save your bile - not interested. But if you want to speak constructively about world affairs that's fine...

What exactly is The Audit Commission? It claims to be an independent body.... but the text hardly seems impartial and it has not escaped my attention that they are based in the very same building as the Labour Party HQ - Millbank Tower.

It's not obvious why, in the long term, Labour should benefit from migrant votes. Once such a community reaches critical mass, it will increasingly create it's own parties. I think Respect fits this pattern. The left created the grievance culture and whilst the numbers were small, they benefited. However the grievance culture is not about solutions - consequently, it is self defeating in the long term. My personal view is that not just the Conservatives, but Labour too will continue their long term declines.